Dota 2's New Hero Is Playable Now, Another Is Coming This Winter

Valve gets so much beef for not making new games; everyone wants a new Half-Lifeor a new Portal or a new Left 4 Dead. But Valve isn't giving in to the pressure from the community, nor giving up an inch when it comes to the demands for making a new game. However, it doesn't mean that Valve isn't creating new content, because the company certainly is creating new content, especially for Dota 2. Just recently Valve rolled out a brand new promotional video highlighting a brand new playable hero for Dota 2 who is available right now, as well as revealing that another hero is on the way for fans of the MOBA game starting this winter.

The trailer is just under two minutes in length, and starts off with a marching theme of sorts that plays congruently with the beat of a soldier smashing his spear into the ground to rally the troops. After stomping the ground in synchronization with the music for a short time, we finally see a splash screen saying that Mars will be coming this winter. The trailer then switches over to a voiceover talking about how his family, his life, and his love are all gone, and that some things in the dark world are worth any price, and then we see the new character attacking the heroes. We then finally see that this new villain is called Grimstroke, and that he's available right now.

There isn't much to say about Mars other than that he looks like some kind of tribal warrior. He's accompanied by various tribesman on the battlefield, but beyond that we don't really know anything. A lot of people in the comment section are hoping that he's reminiscent of the Spartans from the movie 300. Others, however, were more intrigued by Grimstroke.

The commenters basically compared him to being Bob Ross reincarnated as Diablo.

I have to say that the vignette for Grimstroke was brilliant. He uses a paintbrush in a deadly way, dealing damage and siphoning life from his foes on Dota 2's battlefield. But, what really stands out is how there was such a poetic sense of foul justice that we assumed Grimstroke befell until we learned that he lost everything because he gave it up to be powerful. It's a nice spin on the classic tale of a hero's descent into madness and vengeance after losing everything.

I don't know if the design of Grimstroke is as clever as his intro and voiceover; I feel as if his visage is somewhat forgettable in the grand scheme of his motif, which I think is actually brilliant. It reminds me of an evil version of Okami. In fact, a couple of people in the comment section even joked about Valve working on Okami 2. Although, I'm sure if Valve put up the money Capcom would most certainly give the company a green light for development.

Anyway, you can grab a free copy of Dota 2 right now from over on the Steam store. And, if you feel inclined to do so, you can grab Grimstroke as well. You'll need to stay tuned in for more info on when Mars will become available.